College of Graduate Studies

Formatting Documents

Before you begin to format your document, you will need to print out the ETD Guidelines and sample pages below. The ETD Guidelines document is in Adobe Acrobat format (.pdf), which means you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader on your machine to view it. You may download Adobe Acrobat Reader here if you don't have it.

DOWNLOAD A COPY OF THE OFFICIAL Electronic Thesis & Dissertation (ETD) Student Guide to Preparation and Processing ( PDF) (Updated: September 17, 2009)

Style Manuals

Using a Word Processor

You will be using a word processor to type your thesis or dissertation. You can use whatever word processor you like, but only Microsoft Word is supported on Georgia Southern University's campus. There is also support for MS Word in the library. You will find useful information and recommendations below for MS Word.

Recommendation # 1:
Buy a Word Processing Reference Book

It is highly recommended that you visit a bookstore to buy a good reference book for the word processor you will be using. A good reference book should have plenty of visuals and easy-to-follow instructions. Also, make sure that the reference book you buy is for the same version of the software you are using. You will find the version number of the software under the Help drop-down menu of the program you are using. Buying a reference will make your life a lot less stressful when you are having to format your thesis or dissertation.

Recommendation #2:
Start with the Microsoft Word Overview Below

This page contains an overview designed to help you find specific functions in Microsoft Word. It is not a definitive "how to" for everything you might need to do for your thesis or dissertation. There are too many versions of MS Word to produce a tutorial for each version. Microsoft Word contains help information under the Help drop-down menu in all versions. You may also visit Microsoft.com's Web site to look for free tutorials, or you can do a search on the Internet (via Google, etc.) for tutorials on other sites.

Recommendation #3:
Get Help from the Library

The Henderson Library offers workshops each semester in how to use word to create a PDF for a thesis or dissertation, and how to use the ETD system.